Subject: This Land, in Yiddish
From:
GerryM
Date: 01 Mar 21 - 01:52 AM
There are several threads here on This Land Is Your Land, but this doesn't seem to fit in any of them.
Daniel Kahn and several others singers and musicians well-known to fans of Yiddish music have recorded a free translation of This Land Is Your Land into Yiddish. The translation is true to the spirit of Guthrie's original. The video includes lyrics in Yiddish (in Hebrew characters), in transliteration, and in English translation.
From the video:
"Dos Land iz Dayn Land" Woody Guthrie's
"This Land is Your Land"
Yiddish Translation by Linda Gritz & Daniel Kahn
with Harry Bochner, Michael Alpert, & Josh Waletzky
Video and music produced, directed and edited by Daniel Kahn
Presented by The Forverts
Performed by (in order of appearance)
Daniel Kahn (voice, guitar, harmonica- USA/Germany)
Sarah Gordon (voice- USA)
Lorin Sklamberg (voice, piano- USA)
Patrick Farrell (accordion- USA/Germany)
Sveta Kundish (voice- Ukraine/Israel/Germany)
Michael Alpert (voice- USA/Scotland)
Linda Gritz (voice- USA)
A note: Written on February 23, 1940 as a response to the popularity of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," Woody Guthrie's radical ballad has often been sanitized and sung as an uncritical patriotic anthem, ignoring a history of stolen land, lives, and labor.
As Yiddish singers, musicians, and translators, drawing on our own heritage, we challenge this interpretation, and stand in solidarity with Indigenous, Black, and immigrant voices calling for power, reparation, and justice in this land.
Transliterated Lyrics:
(Daniel:)
Kh’hob mir gevandert in a land a frayen
Aroys fun midber, vi mi-mitsrayem,
Gezukht a nayem Yerushalayem,
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(REFREN:)
Dos land iz dayn land, dos land iz mayn land
Fun Kalifornye biz Elis Ayland,
Fun di groyse oz’res biz di breyte yamen,
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Sarah:)
Ikh gey ariber di berg un teler,
Arumgeringlt fun zise keler.
Di ritshkes murmlen, di feygl zingen:
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Lorin w/ piano:)
Kh’ze a groysn moyer mit a shild vos vornt:
Vil men araynet, shteyt az me tor nit
Nor af yener zayt, shteyt dortn gornit
Ot iz di zayt far mir un dir.
(Sveta & Patty w/accordion:)
Gey ikh mir voglen, di zun fun oybn,
Nor beyze vintn tseblozn shtoybn,
Durkh di tumanen, her ikh gezangen:
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Michael:)
Af nase gasn, in tife shotns,
Ze ikh vi mentshn betn nedoves
Bay aza dales, darf ikh zikh klern
Tsi dos iz a land far mir un dir.
(Linda and all:)
Es ken shoyn keyner undz nit farshtern,
Di fraye vegn undz nit farvern.
Nito keyn tsamen, ven nor tsuzamen.
Dos iz a land far mir un dir.
Literal translation of the Yiddish:
I wandered into a free country
Out of the desert, as though from Egypt,
Looking for a new Jerusalem,
This is a country for me and you.
This is your country,
This is my country,
From California to Ellis Island,
From the Great Lakes to the wide seas,
This is a country for me and you.
I walk over mountains and valleys
Surrounded by sweet voices.
The streams murmur, the birds sing:
This is a country for me and you.
I see a big wall with a sign that warns:
If you want to enter, it says it’s forbidden
But on the other side, it says nothing,
That is the side for you and me.
I go wandering, the sun above,
But evil winds are blowing dust,
Through the haze, I hear singing:
This is a country for me and you.
On wet streets, in deep shadows,
I see people begging for change.
To see such poverty, I wonder
If this is a country for me and you.
There’s no one who can stop us,
Or forbid us the paths of freedom.
There are no barriers, if we are united.
This is a country for me and you.
|
sj
